Haus Hiltl, the world's oldest vegetarian restaurant in Zurich,Switzerland

 

Certified by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2012 for being the oldest continuously operational vegetarian restaurant in the World, it was founded in 1898 by some German immigrants as 'Vegetarierhem AG' to popularise vegetarianism as a way of healthy living

India's former Prime Minister Morarji Desai was among those who visited the restaurant which is located in Zurich's Sihlstrasse. He had visited the eating joint during an official visit to the country.

The eating point, established in 1898 at a time when the vegetarians were dubbed as "grazers" by most in Europe, did not prove a success until its management was taken over by a tailor Ambrosius Hiltl a few years later

 

 

Mr Hiltl, who suffered from a disease which left him unable to continue as dress maker, was told by a natural healer that he could get cured if he renounces meat and sticks to a strict vegetarian diet. He practised it and got cured which turned him into a committed convert to vegetarianism.

Mr Hiltl became the restaurant's manager in 1903 and later bought it with the support of his wife Martha Gneupel. It is now being run by the fourth generation of the Hiltl family.